Presentation

Professor Newman is the editor of the Journal of Political Marketing and an expert on voter behaviour and political marketing. He is the author of several books, including “The Marketing of the President” and “Winning Elections with Political Marketing.

The title of his presentation for Tuesday 22nd March, 2011 was: Bridging the Worlds of Marketing and Politics: Recent Elections and Implications for Democracy.

The presentation gave an historical overview of the development of the field of Political Marketing, focusing on the use of business marketing methods in recent U.S. presidential campaigns.  The use of certain political marketing techniques has raised serious questions concerning their impact on democracy.  Topics and techniques which were discussed to shed a light on this included: Negative advertising; unlimited amounts of money to spend on campaigns; recent developments and uses of Social Media and Social Networks; and advanced polling methods.  At the same time, the presentation covered traditional thinking in politics that continues to emphasize the importance of the role of party affiliation; debates; grassroots efforts and leadership. The aim of the presentation was to stimulate a healthy debate and discussion on these topics and how they have played out in Ireland today and in the future.